Capacity Building & Education

March 2011: The March 2011 edition of the World Bank Institute Climate Change (WBICC) Practice e-Bulletin presents news of the launch of a climate practitioner network in Latin America, and training of youth in Kenya to become agents of change and to implement youth-focused climate change-development activities within their communities.

8 April 2011: The Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is seeking nominations for a Latin America and Caribbean regional consultation and capacity building workshop on REDD+ (reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries, as well as the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of carbon stocks), including on relevant biodiversity safeguards.

7 April 2011: A Roundtable on Climate Finance and Energy Access was held on 7 April 2011, during the 2011 Bloomberg New Energy Finance Summit, which was held from 4-7 April 2011, in New York, US. The Roundtable, hosted by Bloomberg New Finance in association with the UN Foundation and UN-Energy, championed the UN's efforts to raise awareness about the importance of extending modern energy services to the billions who still lack them.

6 April 2011: The second Pan-African Climate and Health workshop was held from 4-6 April 2011, as part of the African region's preparation for the 17th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 17) to the UNFCCC to be held in Durban, South Africa, at the end of the year.

22 March 2011: The Community Research and Development Centre (CREDC), in collaboration with the UN Development Programme (UNDP)/Global Environment Facility Small Grant Programme (GEF SGP), the Global Greengrants Fund (GGF) and the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN), is implementing a project titled "Access to Electricity in Odighi Community in Edo State using Photo Voltaic" in Nigeria.

March 2011: The Executive Board of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) has recently approved a strategic initiative to address the weak institutional capacities within Least Developed Countries (LDCs) to tackle climate change, known as "Boots on the Ground."

Organized by the CBD Secretariat in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment of Ecuador and with financial support from the Government of Japan and the UN-REDD Programme, the purpose of this workshop is to consult with parties on the development of advice on relevant biodiversity safeguards, so that REDD-plus actions are consistent with the objectives of the CBD and avoid negative impacts on and enhance benefits for biodiversity.

The Eye on Earth Summit, Pursuing a Vision, is being organised under the theme "Dynamic system to keep the world environmental situation under review." This event will launch the global environmental information network (EIN) strengthening initiative and address major policy and technical issues. The Summit is co-organized by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), Environment Agency Abu Dhabi, European Environment Agency, among others, and funded by the United Arab Emirates. An expected outcome of the Summit will be a clear statement on ways and means to strengthen existing initiatives and fill gaps towards informed policy making in support of a sustainable future. As part of preparations for the UNCSD in 2012, the Eye on the Earth Summit represents an opportunity and milestone to focus attention on the 20 years of collective efforts of making the best environmental information available to support decision making in order to achieve sustainable development, reduce poverty and transform the global economy.

The Congress theme will be Nature+, a slogan that captures the fundamental importance of nature and its inherent link to every aspect of people's lives. The Congress will explore many of the most pressing environmental and development challenges from this perspective and how strong and resilient nature is intricately linked to solving these issues, including Nature+climate, nature+livelihoods, nature+energy and nature+economics.